Improvement in mounting ordnance



Ilnirrnn rares artnr Ormes.

CHARLES E. BROXVN, OE WARREN, RHODE ISLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN MOUNTING ORDNANC.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 36,2173., dated August26,1862.

To a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Grammes F. BROWN, of Warren, in the county ofBristol and State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Mounting Ordnance; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a l'ull, clear, and exactdescription ofthe same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, in which- Figurel exhibits a transverse vertical sectionof part of the deck and side of a vessel, a side view of a gun, and alongitudinal section of its carriage, showing the gun run out and readyfor firing. Eig. 2 exhibits a side view of the gun and carriage, andshows the position of the gun after it has recoiled in nring. Fig. 3exhibits a top view of the gun and a horizontal section of the carriage,and of the side of the vessel, and shows the position in which the gunis kept until the time of preparation for action. i

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severaligures.

rlhis improvement relates, principally, to the invention ,whichconstitutes the subject-matter of Letters Patent No. 13,249, granted tome on the 17 th of July, 1S55-viz., mounting` a cannon in a carriage ofcircular form, which is arranged to close the port-hole or embrasurethrough which the piece works, but to turn freely in a horizontaldirection, and'which has an opening through it of suitable size and formto receive the gun and to allow it the necessary upward and downwardmovement to give it the desired elevation. The object 4of that inventionwas more especially the p romuzzle or breech loading gun to be usedequally well as may be desired, and the said improvement consists of anovel mode of applying the gun in combination with the carriage forthose purposes.

To enable others to make and apply my invention, I will proceed todescribe its construction and operation. Y

A is the portion of the carriage made of spheroidal or spherical form,as described in my before-mentioned Letters Patent, with uprightjournals a c', and with an opening, s,

through-it for the passage of the gun G, and

having firmly secured to the lower part of its rear a long tail-piece,b. rIhe lower journal, a, is received in a step-bearing, o, secured tothe deck B, andthe upper journal, a', in a bearing, c', secured to theinterior of the side of the vessel; and the tail-piece b has attached toit a roller, d, which runs on a semicircular iron way, c, bolted to thedeck, and the upper journal'and its bearing and the side of the vesselare thereby relieved in a great degree of the strain to which they wouldotherwise be subject. rBhe port-hole t i in the side of the vessel ismade of a form for the spheroidal or circular main portion A of thecarriage, to fit closely within it, in the manner shown in Figs. l and3. v

Instead of making the gun with trunnions and fitting the trunnions tobearings in the opening s of the carriage, as described in mybefore-mentioned Letters Patent, I now propose to make the gun withouttrunnions, and to provide it on its under side with one or moreprojections or rigidly-attached pieces, f, tted to a dovet-ail groove,g, in a slide, B, and attach this slide to the carriage by a pin, h,passing transversely through it and through the carriage, the axis ofthesaid pin intersecting the axis of the journals a a. A portionof theslide B is received wit-hin the opening s in the main portion A of thecarriage, but the said slide extends far enough back to support thebreech of the gun when the latter is drawn back far enough to bring itsmuzzle entinely within the spheroidal or circular part of the carriage,as shown in Fig. 2; and the elevating-screw C, which screws through thetail-piece 1) operates upon the rear portion of the said slide, toadjust the elevation of the gun, the gun having no movement relativelyto the said slide but in alongitudiual direction, and moving with thesaid slide in a vertical direction. The longitudinal movement permittedto the gun upon the slide B should be sufficient to allow the muzzle tobe projected through the carriage, as shown in Fig. l, as far as isdesirable for ring, and to be drawn entirely within the spheroidal orcircular portion of the carriage, as shown in Fig. 2, for the purpose ofpermitting the carriage to make a quarter-revolution in either directionabout the axis of its journals a a', by which means the muzzle of thegun is brought within the vessel, as shown in the plan view Fig.V 3, thegun being then in line with the side of the vessel, and one side of thespheroidal or circular main portionv A of the carriage being then madeto constitute a port which not only closes the port-hole M moreeffectually and affords a better protection to the men workA ing theguns than when the opening s is toward the outside of the vessel, buteffectually protects the gun if the said portion A of the carriage bemade of lproper material and strength. I propose to build this portionof the carriage of wrought-iron 'or of Wrought and cast iron combined,in such manner as to have the greatest power of resisting the impact ofcannon-balls or other heavy projectiles.

The loading of the gun either at the muzzle or breech is performed afterturning the carriage to the position shown in Fig. 3 without thenecessity of running the gun forward in the carriage to such a positionas shown in that figure, which is the position in which the gun issecured by lashings to the sides of the' vessel until the time ofpreparation for action or exercise. v

. The above-described construction of the gun-carriage is applicable tothe casemate-guns of fortifications as well as to those on board ships,the portion A o f the carriage being applied to the walls of the fort inthe same manner as to the side of the vessel and the embrasure beingmade to t the said portion of the carriage in the same manner as theport i i.

The second feature of my improvement is illustrated in Figs. l and 2. Dis the air-cylinde'nrmly secured to the slide' B below and parallel withthe bore of the gun; and E is the piston, which works in the saidcylinder, firmly secured to a rod, j, both ends of which are firmlysecured to the under side of the gun, and which passes through air-tightstuffing-boxes in the heads of cylinder D. vThe cylinder must be of alength a little greater than the intended lengthof the movement of thegun on the slide B with the thickness of the piston added, and the rodmust be long enough between its connections with the gun to permit themovement of the gun on the slide, the piston being at the middle of thelength of the rod. Near the front end of the cylinder there is attachedto it a cock, k, and near the rear end a cock, 7d, to regulate theadmission or escape of air. I

To one side of the slide B, near the rear end thereof, there is attachedby a fu1crum pin, Z, a catch-lever, F, whose tooth m is intended tocatch the projection f on the gun and hold it back after the recoil inring, as shown in Fig. 2, the top of the said tooth being beveled' toallow the said projection to pass easily over it, and the lever having.applied to it a spring, a, the duty of which 1s to press the toothupward-as far as permitted .by the projection f, or, in case of theprojection being out of the way, by a stoppin, p, which is attached tothe slide.- llhe cocks Ic la are intended to be wholly or nearly closedwhen the gun is in the forward position shown in Fig. l, and when therecoil of the gun in firing takes place air is compressed in the portionof the cylinder in rear of the piston E, and a partial vacuum isproduced in the portion of the cylinder in front thereof, and thegradually-increasing excess of pressure of the air in rear of the pistonover that in front of it tends to resist the recoil; but this excessshould be so regulated, when necessary, by a proper relative opening ofthe two cocks k 7c that the cannon will just arrive with its muzzlewithin the portion A of the'carriage, and that the projection f willpass over and be caught by the tooth my of the catch-lever F, which willprevent the gun from being driven forward again by the expansion of theair in the rear portion of the cylinder when the force of the recoil hasbeenspent. When the gun is thus caught, the cocks 7c k should be closedto enable the expansive force above mentioned to be held in reserve forthe purpose of aiding in moving the gun forward upon the slide B afterthe loading has been ,performed. This closing of the cocks may beperformed by tappet-s on the gun itself or by hand. After the gun hasbeen brought Within the vessel by turning the carriage to the positionshown in Fig. 8, and been loaded,'

either at the muzzle, in the usual way, or at the breech by anyconvenient method, the carriage is turned back again to the position Ishown in Figs. l and 2, and the rear end of the lever F raised by handto remove the tooth m from in front of the projection f, and so unlockthe gun and allow it to be moved forward. While the pressure of the airin the rea-r portion of the cylinder is greater than that of theatmosphere, it aids in effecting the above movement, its effect beingincreased while there is a partial vacuum in the portion of the cylinderin front of the piston 5 but when the pressure before or behind thepiston is equal to that of the atmosphere,`the front or back cock, 7c or7c', as the case may be, should be opened, as by remaining closed anylonger it causes an obstruction to the forward movenient of thecylinder.

The power required, in addition to that obtained from the expansion ofthe air in the cylinder, to move the gun forward may be applied bytackles or other mechanical means.

This mode of iirst preventing and afterward aiding in the return of thegun after the recoil may be applied in combination with guncarriages ofother construction than that specified.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

Combining the gun with the spheroidal,

-eoil or move back fer enough to bring its muz spherical, or circularportion A of the carriage at the muzzle or breech, substantially asherein by Ineens of a vertically-moving slide, B7 or speeifed. 1tsequlvelent, whereby 1t 1s permlttecl to re- CHARLES F. BROWN.

zle Within the said portion of the slide7 and so Witnesses:

permitted to be brought Within the Vessel in JOHN T. CHILD7 such manneras to enable it to be loaded either BELLE F. BROWN.

